Are Americans Wired for Authoritarianism? Charles Derber argues the nation’s democratic ideals have long masked an entrenched system of elite rule. As Donald Trump openly defies constitutional norms and concentrates power in the White House, many Americans see him as a dangerous break from the nation’s democratic traditions. Sociologist Charles Derber argues the opposite. In […]
The tech company Flock, makers of traffic cameras that automatically record and log car license plates for law enforcement agencies, is facing increasing scrutiny over accusations that its vast, AI-sorted database has created a new, nationwide mass surveillance system. With few regulations or oversight on its use, Flock’s data can be sold to third parties or shared with federal agencies such as ICE, says the ACLU’s Chad Marlow, who works on efforts to regulate and cancel Flock’s contracts with local law enforcement. Because Flock’s indiscriminate system records information on all cars and drivers that pass its cameras, “we have a company working to record the comings and goings of every single person in the country,” in what Marlow calls “a very un-American take on privacy.”
This year’s El Niño weather system, expected to be one of the strongest in decades, could cause a global economic shock that the world is unable to absorb, Deutsche Bank warned.
Soaring egg prices in China highlight the contrast between the slowing pace of economic growth — which some analysts say faces recession — and consumer cost pressures.
The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup has concluded, with Spain defeating Argentina to claim the coveted title. Spain’s national team players accepted the championship trophy at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his close ally, United States President Donald Trump. Former professional soccer player Jules Boykoff, now a scholar who studies the political dimensions of the sport, joins us to discuss the various controversies that swirled around this year’s tournament, held in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. this past month.
“While many of us were engrossed in this World Cup, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ramped up its violent deportation machine,” says Boykoff. “And so, the World Cup helped Trump advance his agenda. It deflected attention from a lot of people away from his brutal immigration program, and it sets him up well to do the same in Los Angeles in 2028 when the United States hosts the Summer Olympics.”
Major powers criticized China for what the US called “dangerous and aggressive” naval maneuvers in the South China Sea, setting the tone for a meeting of ASEAN officials.
As the Trump administration carries out its campaign against the International Criminal Court, imposing wide-reaching sanctions on judges, prosecutors and groups who have accused Israel of war crimes in front of the international tribunal, we’re joined by veteran war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody. Brody says that the U.S. government’s rejection of the ICC’s jurisdiction is not about “American sovereignty,” as the Trump administration claims, but about “impunity,” for both U.S. allies, like Israel, and the U.S. itself. “Marco Rubio knows that bombing Iran without Security Council authorization constitutes aggression under the U.N. Charter,” says Brody. “This is an insurance policy against accountability for crimes that the Trump administration is committing in plain sight.”
Brody also responds to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s statements that his office may attempt to carry out the ICC arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister attends the United Nations General Assembly later this year, and to the recent announcement by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega that his country will no longer hold elections, further entrenching the onetime revolutionary’s authoritarian rule.
The expansion fits within ADNOC’s global gas strategy and is part of a broader effort to meet rising domestic demand driven by industrial growth and AI.
Overseas investors poured $1.6 billion into Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange in the second quarter, the only Gulf market to post an increase in net foreign buying.